The Earth- Jack Maraziti
After thinking for several days about a topic that was important to me, I couldn't find a better one than the Earth itself. It provides us with an atmosphere to live in, spend time with family and friends, enjoy our favorite hobbies, and to just live life at its fullest. The Earth encompasses everything that is of great importance to me. But, I fear that our planet is in danger.
The word "wildfire" has been dominating headlines globally over the past few months. A total of 12.35 million acres have been burned in Australia this year alone, according to Time Scholastic. Although there can be several good effects from natural occurring wildfires, such as tree reproduction and some animal benefits, these excessive burns have had an overall more negative effect on animals, people, and our planet.
Annually, Australia experiences a "wildfire season" which coincides with their drought period. During this time, there is an increased risk of wildfire due to the dryness of the land. The problem, however, is that the time period of these seasons has increased, along with the severity of the burns over the past few years. This is partially due to the effect of global warming. This prevalent issue is caused by the increased amount of green house gasses, such as CO2, causing heat to be reflected back into the Earth's atmosphere. The trapping of the heat leads to an increase in temperature. This relates back to the wildfires because the increased heat in the environment evaporates water at a quicker rate causing more severe drought conditions and more wildfires. But, the process does not end here. The effect of trees burning releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Canadell, the director of the Global Carbon Project, reported that about 400 million tons of carbon in the form of CO2 has been released from the Australian wildfires. Usually the regrowing forests will absorb this carbon dioxide, thus balancing out the emissions from the fires. But, researchers are finding that global warming is reducing forest re-growth to only 1/3 of the size of the forest previous to the wildfire. This is occurring because of the shift in rain patterns and increasing temperatures, which results in drier conditions. If this process doesn't reverse, wildfires, as well as other climate related problems, will continue to rise in severity and size.
The simple solution to this mass deforestation would be to re-plant seeds and nourish the forests ourselves. However, this is much more challenging than it may seem. To begin, there aren't many people who want to perform back-breaking manual labor of planting millions of seeds by hand. Additionally, it is challenging to locate the areas with the most favorable growing conditions over millions of acres of burned landscape. Luckily, innovative companies such as DroneSeed have developed AI technology that does all of the above. These drones are able to locate effective growing areas, spread anti-weed pesticides, and plant seeds all with a fly by. This new technology allows for a greater re-growth of burnt or deforested areas, which will help to capture the large CO2 emissions released from the fires.
Global warming has been on a steady rise over the last few years and we are now starting to see the various impacts it has on our society. The fires in Australia have already killed a total of 28 people, burned over 2,000 houses, and impacted many animal species. This is just one effect from climate change. Our society has to take note of these effects and act in innovative ways, such as using DroneSeed, in order to save our planet. After all, it is our only home.
The word "wildfire" has been dominating headlines globally over the past few months. A total of 12.35 million acres have been burned in Australia this year alone, according to Time Scholastic. Although there can be several good effects from natural occurring wildfires, such as tree reproduction and some animal benefits, these excessive burns have had an overall more negative effect on animals, people, and our planet.
Annually, Australia experiences a "wildfire season" which coincides with their drought period. During this time, there is an increased risk of wildfire due to the dryness of the land. The problem, however, is that the time period of these seasons has increased, along with the severity of the burns over the past few years. This is partially due to the effect of global warming. This prevalent issue is caused by the increased amount of green house gasses, such as CO2, causing heat to be reflected back into the Earth's atmosphere. The trapping of the heat leads to an increase in temperature. This relates back to the wildfires because the increased heat in the environment evaporates water at a quicker rate causing more severe drought conditions and more wildfires. But, the process does not end here. The effect of trees burning releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Canadell, the director of the Global Carbon Project, reported that about 400 million tons of carbon in the form of CO2 has been released from the Australian wildfires. Usually the regrowing forests will absorb this carbon dioxide, thus balancing out the emissions from the fires. But, researchers are finding that global warming is reducing forest re-growth to only 1/3 of the size of the forest previous to the wildfire. This is occurring because of the shift in rain patterns and increasing temperatures, which results in drier conditions. If this process doesn't reverse, wildfires, as well as other climate related problems, will continue to rise in severity and size.
The simple solution to this mass deforestation would be to re-plant seeds and nourish the forests ourselves. However, this is much more challenging than it may seem. To begin, there aren't many people who want to perform back-breaking manual labor of planting millions of seeds by hand. Additionally, it is challenging to locate the areas with the most favorable growing conditions over millions of acres of burned landscape. Luckily, innovative companies such as DroneSeed have developed AI technology that does all of the above. These drones are able to locate effective growing areas, spread anti-weed pesticides, and plant seeds all with a fly by. This new technology allows for a greater re-growth of burnt or deforested areas, which will help to capture the large CO2 emissions released from the fires.
Global warming has been on a steady rise over the last few years and we are now starting to see the various impacts it has on our society. The fires in Australia have already killed a total of 28 people, burned over 2,000 houses, and impacted many animal species. This is just one effect from climate change. Our society has to take note of these effects and act in innovative ways, such as using DroneSeed, in order to save our planet. After all, it is our only home.
Sources:
- https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2019/bushfires-on-east-coast-of-australia-out-of-control
- https://time.com/5759964/australian-bushfires-climate-change/
- https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/01/australia/australia-fires-explainer-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
- https://www.npr.org/2020/01/10/795366562/how-australian-wildfire-emissions-may-impact-global-climate
- techcrunch.com
I think you put a lot of time and effort into your blog post. I agree that the earth is the most important thing in our lives because without it we wouldn't be able to live. I also think that global warming is a big factor in the wildfire problem in Australia, but it is going to be very difficult to stop or at least slow down the global warming. Anyway great job, I enjoyed reading about your concern.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree! I think it's really interesting that there are drones that can detect good planting conditions for trees and plant them. Hopefully we can create more solutions to our climate crisis and help more people learn to appreciate the planet so we can preserve it for as long as possible!
ReplyDeleteThis was a good choice of a topic and you're right - this is all we have.
ReplyDelete